Thede Connection- HAITI/Zambia: Update and Planting Cacao

"springs" of water in the school yard

More rain over the weekend. Parts of lower campus actually had water bubbling up from the ground around the school and the school's dinning hall foundation.

We enjoyed a visit from Dieucel. We heard how his family evacuated their house, one by one, piggy-backed on the back of a tall man.

How the water came up almost to his wife's neck as they moved to higher ground.

They returned to their home after a the flood waters receded only to have to evacuate a second time.

We listened with praise in our hearts as he shared with us how a pastor in a very hard church got excited about the Konsey books and purchased a box for his church.

The Lord blessed the church with an increase of offerings after the people started to read the book.

He told us also of a place in the Dominican where many Haitians live that received 2 or 3 boxes of Konsey.

So very glad to hear how the Lord continues to spread the books to Haitians.

flood washed peanut fields

Last week we brought 97 cacao trees to the new gardens and kept 3 to plant on campus to compare the USDA selected "super trees" with the other cacao on campus and see how well they grow under peach palms.

We have had over 60 inches of rain the past 5 weeks so the paths around here are very muddy.

We also had to delay planting until the river was low enough to cross with wheelbarrows of trees.

It was a long, hard 45 minutes or so to get to the gardens, dodging or hitting stones placed on the trails in some areas to help with walking over the water and mud but hard on the wheelbarrows.

The weather has been so cloudy that for now the pigeon pea crop in the area is mostly lost.

There just isn't enough sun so the plants that didn't die from flooding have dropped most of the pea pods.

They might still produce a later crop.

The peanuts that didn't wash out look ok so far, might be OK if we get sunny weather now.

Our young fruit trees and peach palms are doing well. The rice looks thin in most of the garden, probably not planted close enough or just lacking enough sunshine.